MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Amcor in massive $13b buyout of Berry Group

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 20-Nov-24

Amcor will maintain its primary listing on the NYSE and a secondary listing on the ASX following its proposed $13 billion all-scrip merger with rival packaging firm Berry Group. Amcor shareholders will own about 63 per cent of the merged company, which will boast 400 packaging plants worldwide, a global workforce of, 75,000 and revenues of $US24 billion. Amcor has forecast that the merger will generate synergies of about $US650m. Amcor shifted its primary listing to the US in 2019 following the acquisition of Bemis Company, and subsequently relocated its global headquarters to Zurich.

CORPORATES
AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, BERRY GROUP, BEMIS COMPANY INCORPORATED

Allkem shareholders green-light $9.7b Livent merger

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Original article by Elouise Fowler
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 20-Dec-23

Some 89 per cent of proxy votes cast at Allkem’s shareholders meeting on Tuesday were in favour of the proposed merger with US-based Livent. The latter’s shareholders will shortly vote on the deal; the combined entity will be called Arcadium Lithium and is set to be one of the world’s biggest producers of the battery mineral. It will have assets in Western Australia, Canada and Argentina. Allkem’s chairman will take up the same role at Arcadium, while Livent’s Paul Graves will be CEO.

CORPORATES
ALLKEM LIMITED – ASX AKE, LIVENT INCORPORATED, ARCADIUM LITHIUM

Glencore captures Teck Resources’ coal operations in $14bn deal

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 15 : 15-Nov-23

Glencore CEO Gary Nagle expects its $US8.9bn ($14bn) deal to acquire a majority stake in Teck Resources’ coking coal business to be finalised in the September 2024 quarter. Glencore will own 77 per cent of Elk Valley Resources if the deal is approved by Canadian regulators, while steelmakers Nippon Steel and Posco will be minority shareholders. Glencore is still proposing to demerge its coal division, which would include the Elk Valley mines as well as Glencore’s coal mines in Australia; Nagle says the process of hiving off the coal assets is likely to take about two years. Teck will in turn focus on copper and nickel production.

CORPORATES
GLENCORE PLC, TECK RESOURCES LIMITED, ELK VALLEY RESOURCES LIMITED, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION, POSCO

Private equity investors circle over Virgin

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Jemima Whyte
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 17-Apr-20

Virgin Australia has asked the federal government for a $1.4 billion loan to help it survive the COVID-19 induced shutdown of the aviation sector, and it has threatened to put itself into voluntary administration if government help is not forthcoming. However, pressure on the government to provide Virgin with a loan may have eased, due to reports that at least two private consortia are looking to take over the airline; one of the two is understood to be an investment bank partnered with an Australian infrastructure investor, while the other is believed to be a private equity entity in partnership with a "strategic airline investor".

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Sportsbet/BetEasy merger would dominate online betting market

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Oct-19

New research from Roy Morgan shows that a global merger of The Stars Group and Flutter Entertainment, the online betting companies in control of Sportsbet and BetEasy, would dominate the Australian online betting market. Over 52% of the estimated 1.7 million Australians aged 18+ who place bets online use either Sportsbet (44% of online bettors) or BetEasy (15%) or both. Other leading online betting sites include TAB.com.au/UBET (35%), Ladbrokes (19%), Bet365.com (11%), TABtouch.com.au (3%) and Betfair.com.au (2%). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, SPORTSBET AUSTRALIA, BETEASY PTY LTD, TAB.COM.AU, UBET, LADBROKES GROUP PLC, BET365 GROUP LIMITED, TABTOUCH.COM.AU, BETFAIR.COM.AU, THE STARS GROUP, FLUTTER ENTERTAINMENT

Rundle Place deal ditched by Cromwell

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 13-Sep-19

Property group Cromwell has pulled out of a possible $250 million transaction to acquire Rundle Place in Adelaide from private equity company Blackstone. AMP Capital had previously passed up on the chance to purchase Rundle Place, which consists of a shopping centre and an 11-storey office tower, in June. Blackstone purchased Rundle Place for over $400 million dollars in early 2016.

CORPORATES
CROMWELL PROPERTY GROUP – ASX CMW, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED

No bargains from gold mergers: PwC

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 5-Jun-19

The Super Pit gold mine in Western Australia is among the assets that could potentially be offered for sale in the wake of the latest round of mergers in the gold sector. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are among the Australian gold producers that acquired assets at a discount during the previous spate of mergers in the sector. However, Chris Dodd of PwC says potential buyers cannot expect a significant discount this time around.

CORPORATES
NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX NST, EVOLUTION MINING LIMITED – ASX EVN, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, NEWMONT MINING CORPORATION, GOLDCORP INCORPORATED, BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION, RANDGOLD RESOURCES LIMITED, ST BARBARA LIMITED – ASX SBM, ATLANTIC GOLD CORPORATION

Rinehart, Forrest and big miners sweet on Ecuador

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 25-Mar-19

Sunstone Metals CEO Malcolm Norris expects there to be a lot of gold and copper discoveries in Ecuador in the next 10 years. Norris, secured the Cascabel tenement in Ecuador some years ago when he was in charge of SolGold, which owns 85 per cent of Cascabel. SolGold recently launched a hostile takeover bid for Cornerstone Capital, which has a 15 per cent stake in Cascabel. Cornerstone has spurned the takeover bid and criticised SolGold for what it stated were ongoing delays with releasing information about Cascabel.

CORPORATES
SUNSTONE METALS LIMITED – ASX STM, SOLGOLD PLC, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, CORNERSTONE CAPITAL RESOURCES INCORPORATED, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD

Gold sector told to consolidate

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 25-Oct-18

GoldCorp CEO David Garofalo expects an increase in mergers and acquisitions activity among gold producers, arguing that the large number of players in the sector means it is becoming harder to attract capital. He says further consolidation may be necessary in order to gain the support of generalist investors. Garofalo has downplayed speculation about a potential merger between GoldCorp and Newcrest Mining, which produced 548,351 ounces of gold during the first quarter of 2018-19. This is below the rate required to meet its full-year production forecast.

CORPORATES
GOLDCORP INCORPORATED, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION, RANDGOLD RESOURCES LIMITED, REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX RRL, SARACEN MINERAL HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SAR

Push for Unibail to recut takeover

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian – Page: 20 : 19-Feb-18

French shopping centre group Unibail-Rodamco released details of a plan to acquire the Lowy family’s Westfield Corporation on 10 December. At the time the deal was valued at $A32 billion, but its value has since fallen by over 12 per cent, due to a combination of a fall in Unibail’s share price and a rise in the Euro and the Australian dollar against the US dollar. Michael Doble of APN says that if there was to be any changes to the terms of the transaction that the impetus for change would come from the Lowys.

CORPORATES
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO, WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, APN FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED, FOLKESTONE MAXIM ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, PHOENIX PORTFOLIOS PTY LTD, RESOLUTION CAPITAL LIMITED, ANTARES EQUITIES